Residents across Hillingdon have been receiving posted letters that appear to be from Hillingdon Council - with a postal vote application form inside along with a leaflet advertising the Conservative Mayor of London candidate.
Upon closer inspection, the letter appears to have actually come from the Conservative Party, masquerading as a letter from Hillingdon Council.
Posting on Facebook, Hillingdon resident Wally Kennedy commented:
"It Is clearly intended to give the impression that the impartial 'ERO' [Uxbridge Civic Centre Electoral Registration Office] endorses the Tory government and its London Mayoral Candidate. That is clearly illegal".
The Labour Group Leader Cllr Peter Curling blasted this attempt to deceive members of the public as "outrageous".
"It is only 6 weeks before an election and the Conservative Party are sending out letters and postal vote applications that appear to be from the Council. This could be seen as an endorsement, and it is wrong.
“We have the utmost respect for the impartiality and meticulous running of the electoral process, by Hillingdon’s electoral returns office, and we believe that this could jeopardise the reputation of the council’s dedicated staff, as well as public confidence in the whole postal voting process. It is highly irresponsible.
“We will be reporting this to the appropriate authorities.”
We have contacted Cllr Ian Edwards, leader of Hillingdon Conservatives, for comment. We have received no response.
Cover Photo Credit: AEC Images. Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
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